AutoPartition in PGD v6.0.2

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PGD AutoPartition allows you to split tables into several partitions. It lets tables grow easily to large sizes using automatic partitioning management. This capability uses features of PGD, such as low-conflict locking of creating and dropping partitions.

You can create new partitions regularly and then drop them when the data retention period expires.

You perform PGD management primarily by using functions that can be called by SQL. All functions in PGD are exposed in the bdr schema. Unless you put it into your search_path, you need to schema qualify the name of each function.

Auto creation of partitions

PGD AutoPartition uses the bdr.autopartition() function to create or alter the definition of automatic range partitioning for a table. If no definition exists, it's created. Otherwise, later executions will alter the definition.

PGD AutoPartition in PGD 5.5 and later leverages underlying Postgres features that allow a partition to be attached or detached/dropped without locking the rest of the table. Versions of PGD earlier than 5.5 don't support this feature and lock the tables.

An error is raised if the table isn't RANGE partitioned or a multi-column partition key is used.

By default, AutoPartition manages partitions locally. Managing partitions locally is useful when the partitioned table isn't a replicated table. In that case, you might not need or want to have all partitions on all nodes. For example, the built-in bdr.conflict_history table isn't a replicated table. It's managed by AutoPartition locally. Each node creates partitions for this table locally and drops them once they're old enough.

Also consider:

  • Activities are performed only when the entry is marked enabled = on.

  • We recommend that you don't manually create or drop partitions for tables managed by AutoPartition. Doing so can make the AutoPartition metadata inconsistent and might cause it to fail.

AutoPartition examples

Daily partitions, keep data for one month:

CREATE TABLE measurement (
logdate date not null,
peaktemp int,
unitsales int
) PARTITION BY RANGE (logdate);

bdr.autopartition('measurement', '1 day', data_retention_period := '30 days');

Create five advance partitions when there are only two more partitions remaining. Each partition can hold 1 billion orders.

bdr.autopartition('Orders', '1000000000',
		partition_initial_lowerbound := '0',
		minimum_advance_partitions := 2,
		maximum_advance_partitions := 5
     );

RANGE-partitioned tables

A new partition is added for every partition_increment range of values. Lower and upper bound are partition_increment apart. For tables with a partition key of type timestamp or date, the partition_increment must be a valid constant of type interval. For example, specifying 1 Day causes a new partition to be added each day, with partition bounds that are one day apart.

If the partition column is connected to a snowflakeid, timeshard, or ksuuid sequence, you must specify the partition_increment as type interval. Otherwise, if the partition key is integer or numeric, then the partition_increment must be a valid constant of the same datatype. For example, specifying 1000000 causes new partitions to be added every 1 million values.

If the table has no existing partition, then the specified partition_initial_lowerbound is used as the lower bound for the first partition. If you don't specify partition_initial_lowerbound, then the system tries to derive its value from the partition column type and the specified partition_increment. For example, if partition_increment is specified as 1 Day, then partition_initial_lowerbound is set to CURRENT DATE. If partition_increment is specified as 1 Hour, then partition_initial_lowerbound is set to the current hour of the current date. The bounds for the subsequent partitions are set using the partition_increment value.

The system always tries to have a certain minimum number of advance partitions. To decide whether to create new partitions, it uses the specified partition_autocreate_expression. This can be an expression that can be evaluated by SQL that's evaluated every time a check is performed. For example, for a partitioned table on column type date, suppose partition_autocreate_expression is specified as DATE_TRUNC('day',CURRENT_DATE), partition_increment is specified as 1 Day, and minimum_advance_partitions is specified as 2. New partitions are then created until the upper bound of the last partition is less than DATE_TRUNC('day', CURRENT_DATE) + '2 Days'::interval.

The expression is evaluated each time the system checks for new partitions.

For a partitioned table on column type integer, you can specify the partition_autocreate_expression as SELECT max(partcol) FROM schema.partitioned_table. The system then regularly checks if the maximum value of the partitioned column is within the distance of minimum_advance_partitions * partition_increment of the last partition's upper bound. Create an index on the partcol so that the query runs efficiently. If you don't specify the partition_autocreate_expression for a partition table on column type integer, smallint, or bigint, then the system sets it to max(partcol).

If the data_retention_period is set, partitions are dropped after this period. To minimize locking, partitions are dropped at the same time as new partitions are added. If you don't set this value, you must drop the partitions manually.

The data_retention_period parameter is supported only for timestamp-based (and related) partitions. The period is calculated by considering the upper bound of the partition. The partition is dropped if the given period expires, relative to the upper bound.

Stopping automatic creation of partitions

Use bdr.drop_autopartition() to drop the autopartitioning rule for the given relation. All pending work items for the relation are deleted, and no new work items are created.

Waiting for partition creation

Partition creation is an asynchronous process. AutoPartition provides a set of functions to wait for the partition to be created, locally or on all nodes.

Use bdr.autopartition_wait_for_partitions() to wait for the creation of partitions on the local node. The function takes the partitioned table name and a partition key column value and waits until the partition that holds that value is created.

The function waits only for the partitions to be created locally. It doesn't guarantee that the partitions also exist on the remote nodes.

To wait for the partition to be created on all PGD nodes, use the bdr.autopartition_wait_for_partitions_on_all_nodes() function. This function internally checks local as well as all remote nodes and waits until the partition is created everywhere.

Finding a partition

Use the bdr.autopartition_find_partition() function to find the partition for the given partition key value. If a partition to hold that value doesn't exist, then the function returns NULL. Otherwise it returns the Oid of the partition.

Enabling or disabling autopartitioning

Use bdr.autopartition_enable() to enable autopartitioning on the given table. If autopartitioning is already enabled, then no action occurs. Similarly, use bdr.autopartition_disable() to disable autopartitioning on the given table.

Restrictions on EDB Postgres Advanced Server-native automatic partitioning

EDB Postgres Advanced Server-native automatic partitioning is not supported in PGD.

If the PGD extension is active on an EDB Postgres Advanced Server database, DDL commands to configure EDB Postgres Advanced Server automatic partitioning (ALTER TABLE ... SET AUTOMATIC and ALTER TABLE ... SET INTERVAL) are rejected.

While it's possible to enable the PGD extension on an EDB Postgres Advanced Server database containing tables configured to use EDB Postgres Advanced Server-native automatic partitioning, it isn't possible to join more nodes using this node as a source node.

You can disable EDB Postgres Advanced Server-native automatic partitioning with one of the following commands:

  • ALTER TABLE ... SET MANUAL (for list partitioned tables)
  • ALTER TABLE ... SET INTERVAL () (for interval partitioned tables)
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